Wednesday, September 11, 2019

This merino/silk from Fiber Optic was purchased at Rhinebeck in 2014. I don't really know why I waited so long to spin it, though I will say that I tend to get bored spinning gradients because you work with the same color for a very long period of time. I was looking to empty my stash of very old braids and this is one of the oldest.

I wanted a thin yarn that preserved the gradient so I spun the entire thing short-forward draw end to end without splitting and chain-plied it. I ended up with about 460yds/118g of a fingering weight. The colors which progress from teal through emerald to a deep black just glow due to the silk content. I actually had a hard time letting this one go but I need to continue to thin out my stash rather than hoarding everything. So this one is listed in the shop, unless I change my mind.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

I'm still working on my Magnolia Cardi. I'm actually a bit further than the picture shows. Last night I spent way too much time doing a tubular bind-off on the bottom hem. It takes forever and you have to work with such a long tail when you are binding off that many stitches. I asked myself before starting if it was worth it because it is at the bottom of the sweater. But evidently I concluded the answer was yes so I slogged through it. and begrudgingly, it does look nice. now all i have to do is the front bands, the sleeves, and add pockets and i'll have a new cardigan for fall.

I'm also working on a new spinning project. I chose a braid of Wound Up Fiber Arts MCN that I've been hoarding. My last spin was a very time-consuming one so I am spinning these singles much thicker and I will do a 2-ply. This skein will likely be destined for the shop unless inspiration strikes.

I like using the dailys in my Plum Paper planner but the A5 size is just so bulky. I can't carry a normal sized purse and it's too heavy to carry every day. So rather than investing in a new planner I decided to go back to my Hobonichi Weeks Mega. I realized that I could utilize the note pages in the back for my dailys. There are not enough note pages for an entire year but I could theoretically use it for 6 months with some pages to spare. At least right now I don't think I will mind having to buy 2 Mega Weeks planners a year. it's worth it to me to be able to take advantage of the compact size.

I also wasn't decorating my Plum Paper planner at all b/c I need all the space in the dailys to write. Since I don't use the weekly spreads for much in the Hobonichi besides jotting down important events I can decorate more. I do use the right hand page for trackers, weekly to-dos, and my cleaning list. I find that I'm more excited to use the planner if I add some decoration. I've been having fun purchasing and printing digital kits. I've also made a few of my own stickers.

I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that I'm going to keep changing up my planners. We'll see how long I stay in this one before I get the itch to switch. I finally found a pen that I like to use on the tomoe river paper. Right now I'm using the Pentel Energel .03 and I just ordered the .05 size as well to try out because I do prefer that thickness. Fingers crossed that I'll stay happy for a little while in this planner.

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Wednesday, August 14, 2019

I really shouldn't complain because it hasn't been a bad summer. But I am so over it and ready for fall. Autumn is by far my most favorite season and sadly it seems to get shorter every year. *insert old lady voice* When I moved to western NY I swear fall started in early September and now it doesn't seem to hit until October.

At any rate because my knitting pace has slowed so much I decided to forego knitting socks this month and cast-on for a new cardigan instead. I bought the Magnolia Cardigan pattern back in 2017 but hadn't gotten around to casting on. I am using Miss Babs yarn that I bought at Fibre Space also in 2017, so you could say this project has been percolating for awhile. It feels really good to finally use the beautiful yarns that have been sitting in my stash and also the patterns that I've been hoarding.

If you want to know what I'm doing with the gradient, I'm aiming for colorblock stripes. I'm knitting from darkest to lightest. The gradient stripes are 20 rows or about 2.5" thick. Then I knit 4 rows of the MC then start the next gradient shade. I decided I wanted more of a distinct stripe effect rather than a smooth gradation of color. I'm planning to keep going until I get through the entire gradient and then do the bottom rib in the MC. If this ends up being a super long duster cardigan, I don't think I'll be mad about it. I will most likely omit the buttons. I never wear my cardigans buttoned anyway.

I have sweater fever at the moment with at least 2 more sweaters I want to knit for this upcoming winter. I'll be happy if I can finish just this one though. My husband has asked for a scarf so i should really cast-on for that as well.

WIPs

Goals

Keep yarn/fiber/fabric additions to a minimum: No stash bought this month.

Knit from previously purchased pattern: Nope.

Make what I feel like: I actually didn't much feel like working on either project I finished this month but I did find the motivation to get them off my plate. I wanted to start a sweater for fall and made myself complete the 2 projects I had in progress first. It wasn't super fun but I am happy not to have them hanging around unfinished.

Spin 15 minutes a day: I nearly did this. I was on vacation in mid-July so I missed a couple of days but almost made it.

Wednesday, July 31, 2019

So I won't get into the details but I came into a reasonably-sized unexpected windfall and decided to save most of the money. However I did treat myself to a new gadget. I bought an HP sprocket and a big pack of photo paper. To be honest I'm still ironing out some issues. I would say that the quality of the photos so far isn't the best, however it is very handy to be able to print sticky-backed photos and the sizing is the perfect width for my planner if I print 2 photos to a page.

Originally I did not have a lot of interest in doing memory planning but because I bought the printer and I still had 6 months left in my Classic Happy Planner that were unused, I decided to give it a try. And to my surprise I really love it! I feel like it's the most creative of all my planners. I think it's because I don't feel as restricted to stick to the specific days or page layout and I just wing it until I see something I like.

It's going to be nice to be able to look back through my memory planner. Although I do take photos and post them to Instagram I hardly ever look through them again. This will be a way to highlight the points of interest during the week and capture my favorite moments. I am still doing normal rewind spreads in my Erin Condren every week but this will be a fun addition to my planning arsenal. Not to mention I get to use more of my planning stash every week and how could that ever be a bad thing?

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